All it takes is all you've got

9 miles around Countryside 7:47 ave. pace.  Sunny 25 degrees.  Sidewalks were mostly clear but trails still have some drifted, crusty snow and ice.  Ran on the road for most of it.  Felt GREAT!  Aaron massaged my legs for me last night.  I'm going to foam roller them out some more this morning to make sure I get all that tightness out to avoid a knee seizing relapse. 

AM Ran 2.5 this morning before lifting weights.  Lifted weights and did core for 40 minutes.

PM Met my group at Potts Field in Boulder.  Fun and unique workout tonight!  Each person got to lead an interval and choose how long we went for (between 30 seconds to 2 minutes).  The next person got to choose the time we recovered (no longer than 1 minute)  for and then their interval.  There were 17 of us and we all got a turn.  Coach D took the final leg and brought us in for 2 minutes hard.  Here is the breakdown of what we did: 

20 minute warm up, stretching, strides

50 seconds in 5:56 pace

1 minute easy

2 minutes in 6:04 pace

47 seconds easy

2:08 in 5:31 pace (this was my lead but I lost track of time and people did not like that...oops)

1:46 easy

51 seconds in 5:41 pace

48 seconds easy

26 seconds in 4:57 pace. This one was hilarious because it was led by Dianne, who usually brings up the rear of the group but she must have been nervous to lead all of us because she just went ALL OUT for 26 seconds and called it good.  She has WHEELS!

33 seconds easy

1:10 in 5:26 pace

52 seconds easy

55 seconds in 5:35 pace

46 seconds easy

1 minute in 5:30 pace

33 seconds easy

2:01 in 5:42 pace

1:06 easy

51 seconds in 6:19 pace

37 seconds easy

1:22 in 6:13 pace

55 seconds easy

1 minute in 5:53 pace

40 seconds easy

59 seconds in 5:41 pace

55 seconds easy

1:16 in 5:55 pace

1:06 easy

1:58 in 5:52 pace

1:17 easy  This recovery was longer because someone teased Bean for spitting and she apologized and tried to tell us she never farted though and speaking of which, I said I just breathed in one as Damon raised his hand.  What do I expect...we were running a fartlick afterall.  I mean fartlek?

48 seconds in 6:08 pace

43 seconds easy

53 seconds in 5:50 pace

35 seconds easy

47 seconds in 6:09 pace

34 seconds easy

44 seconds in 5:43 pace

24 seconds easy

1:56 in 6:01 pace

12 minute cool down

Total 9.69 miles in 7:59 ave pace

After my workout last night my right glut was extremely tight so I rolled it out on the foam roller for a while and iced it.  This morning it was still super tight and I didn't want to make it worse so I decided to cross train today.  Went to the gym and my 18-month old was not feeling well and was super clingy when I left her in child care so I resolved to getting my workout done in one hour.  Jumped on the elliptical and made every minute count.  You can really get that thing whirling if you put some muscle into it.  I bumped the level up to 14 and kept my heart rate around 140-150.  It said I did 7.5 miles in an hour and I'm counting it.  My arms and quads were throbbing when I got off.  It may not have been a true "recovery" effort, but at least it didn't hurt my glut.

Tried running for a mile but the glut is still not cooperating fully so I did the row machine for 10 minutes and elliptical for 41 minutes.  Good workout!  Hopefully my glut will cooperate soon.  I think its very likely that its related to my knee seizing up last weekend.  I may have been favoring my left knee a little which caused undue stress on my right glut.  Such is life.  Its a balancing act to give equal effort in all areas. Usually one area or another gets a little neglected.

Crashed into my bed last night after a loooooong day with my 18-month-old crying and being clingy because she's sick.  Woke up this morning feeling sick myself.  And my bum/hamstring muscle still painfully tight.  No running today, just another long day with sick 18-month-old and other two kids to take care of while not feeling well.  Ugh.

Went to bed early last night after pounding the vitamins hoping for a speedy recovery from illness.  Feeling more energized and healthy today but my bum/hamstring strain is actually worse than it was yesterday.  Weird?  I didn't exercise at all yesterday but did have Aaron rub out my legs a little.  Today I have a limp even while walking.  Even so, I did put on my running clothes and attempt running down the street but the limp was obnoxiously hindering so I walked back.  Called Coach D to chat and ask advice and he said to rest it and maybe go see Richey on the team (he's a Chiropractor).   Still waiting to hear back from Richey.  This injury is REALLY frustrating timing with the Houston Half next weekend.  I guess I'll just take it one day at a time.  If I can't run without pain next week I will have to pull out of the race.  Its a depressing thought because I've really been looking forward to going to Houston to run with elite women and my training has been going well up until last week when I had the knee issue.  I think I could still PR if my bum would cooperate but I am not certain that will happen.  I'm trying to keep a positive attitude either way.  I keep thinking about what caused this injury and I think it is probably mostly related to running on cruddy, slippery snow and ice over the past month.  Winter running can be pretty precarious. 

Aaron had another one of his fix n' flip homes robbed yesterday so he took the kids on a drive to go check out the damage.  Luckily only the appliances were stolen and no vandalism occurred so its just $1,500 to replace the appliances.  Not fun, but could have been worse. While they were gone I took Aaron's car in to get an oil change and walked over to my gym to lift weights and do core while I waited.  Afterwards I washed his car and went to Vitamin Cottage for a few things.  Aaron is out on a long run right now and I'm jealous.